Another Bower Grove Christmas
"Another Bower Grove Christmas" 'is a 2010 Christmas charity song performed by the pupils and staff of Bower Grove School. It was written by Toby Starks ("Mr. Starks") the school's music LSA, singer/songwriter, musician and lead vocalist and guitarist of function bands The Starks Family Band and Wheeler Street. Background In 2009, Bower Grove School made a Christmas CD featuring covers of traditional Christmas carols performed by each class to sell at the annual school Christmas fair. The CD was a huge success and many copies were sold at the fair. In October 2010, the school were in discussion about what to for Christmas that year. The school's music department, working alongside the ICT department had been making inroads into utilising technology, this fact teamed up with the school's music LSA, Toby Starks ("Mr. Starks"), a singer/songwriter, musician and lead vocalist and guitarist of Wheeler Street and The Starks Family Band, who possessed amazing composing skills led to the concept of producing an all original song.Toby Starks - 'Another Bower Grove Christmas' (Demo) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HlQakGNCYDQ 'Another Bower Grove Christmas' was born: Lyrically meant to encapsulate the pot pourri of feelings and activities that traditionally punctuate the festive period at school. Musically having a folk-pop style, with a catchy infectious tune. The benefits for the students was huge, involved in designing the cover artwork, whole school performances to record the song, individual pupils voices added as extra tracks, promotional poster design, use of social networking platforms to promote the release. And hopefully the realisation that the internet and social networks can make great things happen. After editing and mixing (more creative genius from Starks) the track was uploaded to CD Baby who had agreed to waive costs on the release of the album due to its charity nature.Psycho65 Blog - A song for Christmas (via Blogger) http://psycho65.blogspot.co.uk/2010/11/song-for-christmas.html Inspiration 'Another Bower Grove Christmas' was inspired by Band Aid's 'Do They Know It's Christmas?' (1984). Promotion 'Another Bower Grove Christmas' was promoted by Bower Grove School's ICT technician and producer of the song, Mr. Matthew "Matt" Evans (known as Psycho65 on social media) through social media sites such as Twitter Psycho55 - Twitter https://twitter.com/psycho65and Blogger.Psycho65 - Blogger http://psycho65.blogspot.co.uk'A Song For Christmas' - Blog (by Psycho65) on Blogger http://psycho65.blogspot.co.uk/2010/11/song-for-christmas.html'A Song For Christmas 2' Blog (by Psycho65) on Blogger http://psycho65.blogspot.co.uk/2010/12/song-for-christmas-2.html Bower Grove School Student, Michael Mikey Brennan promoted the song on social media in 2014 during the occasion of the song's fourth anniversary. Social Media Reviews Reviews from users on CD Baby - User, Robert White described 'Another Bower Grove Christmas' as the ''Best Christmas Song of 2010' - "Marvellous! Will be stuck in my head 'til Easter!". ''User, Lisa commented on the song and said: ''"Fantastic!! Love to listen to children singing ,and when for a good cause it's even better......well done!". User, Mathew Westoby described 'Another Bower Grove Christmas' as 'The Best Christmas Song Ever'.'Another Bower Grove Christmas - CD Baby https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/bowergroveschool - Reviews from users on iTunes - User, Psycho65 (A.K.A Matthew "Matt" Evans, producer and promoter of the song) described 'Another Bower Grove Christmas' as: "A catchy Christmas tune with a great feel." ''User, Stinkymutt said that 'Another Bower Grove Christmas' is an ''"awesome song" ''- ''"This song is brilliant! Once heard, never forgotten! You'll be singing it forever!" (NOTE: the user made an error in writing the review he/she put "sing" instead of "song"). User, Lelpune described the song as "Happy & fun" - "Great catchy tune!"'Another Bower Grove Christmas' - iTunes https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/another-bower-grove-christmas/406302797?i=406302813 Artwork The artwork was designed by Bower Grove pupil, Isaac Pursglove, whose design won the competition of whose would be featured on the single's artwork which all the pupils competed for designing their own design in Art class. Toby Starks Version Toby Starks ("Mr. Starks")'s demo version of 'Another Bower Grove Christmas' (recorded in October, 2010) was released on Bower Grove School's Christmas CD 2011,Bower Grove School - Christmas CD 2011 https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLnvWCuDskRpjwWzRI_PwYuii49kkOFHOe which was sold at the annual fair that year.Psycho65 Blog - A song for Christmas (via Blogger) http://psycho65.blogspot.co.uk/2010/11/song-for-christmas.html The other songs on the CD were two covers (performed by the pupils and staff of the school) of two Christmas carols, 'The Twelve Days of Christmas'Bower Grove School - 'The Twelve Days of Christmas' (Class Recordings) - From Bower Grove School's Christmas CD 2011 and 'Ding Dong Merrily on High'.Bower Grove School - 'Ding Dong Merrily on High' (Live in Assembly) - from Bower Grove School's Christmas CD 2011 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLlHsqDJBo8 Michael Mikey Brennan Version Fellow pupil of Bower Grove School, Michael Mikey Brennan (who was in Year 10 at the time) whose vocals featured on the original version of 'Another Bower Grove Christmas' along with the rest of the pupils and staff of the school, recorded his own solo version of the song in 2013, three years after the release of the original version of the song. He recorded it with Toby Starks ("Mr. Starks) who wrote 'Another Bower Grove Christmas' and produced Brennan's version as well as providing the arrangement for it, whilst the two were currently in production of recording Brennan's cover of Enrique Iglesias' 'Hero' in November 2013. It was released to Brennan's YouTube channelMichael Mikey Brennan's YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/michaelmikeybrennan on Christmas Eve, 2013.Michael Mikey Brennan's version of 'Another Bower Grove Christmas' (2013) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6Dixz7tnzE Two years later it was featured as the ninth track on Brennan's debut self-titled album, 'Michael Mikey Brennan' (2015).Michael Mikey Brennan - 'Another Bower Grove Christmas' - from 'Michael Mikey Brennan' (2015) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=spUEwzmTR04 References